Bracket



y 5, 1959 H. K. GARRISON ET AL 2,884,670

' BRACKET Filed Feb. 27, 1956 United States Patent BRACKET Harold K. Garrison, St. Louis County, Mo., and Thomas W. Locke, Spencer, Iowa, assignors to Doane Agricultural Service, Inc., St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application February 27, 1956, Serial No. 567,841

2 Claims. (Cl. 2092) This invention relates to brackets, and more particularly to brackets for use in wooden building construction.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision of a bracket particularly for use on a pole in a pole type building construction for supporting horizontal rafter supports such as are customarily used in such construction and for making .a high-strength connection between the rafter supports and a pole; the provision of a bracket of the class described which may be fastened to a pole before the rafter supports are set in place to reduce construction time; the provision of a bracket of the class described so constructed that the load carried by the bracket acts on the bracket to make it grip the pole; and the provision of a bracket of the class de scribed which is economical to manufacture and easy to install. Other objects ,and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the constructions hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which one of various possible embodiments of the invention is illustrated,

Fig. 1 is a perspective, with parts broken away and shown in section, showing a bracket of this invention as applied to a pole;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the bracket per se;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of Fig. 3; and,

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on line 55 of Fig. 3, showing a pole in phantom.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawmgs.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates a bracket 1 of this invention fastened to a vertical wooden pole P and supporting the ends of two horizontal wooden rafter supports. The bracket consists of a sheet metal blank formed to provide a lower inner vertical part 3 generally of U-shape in horizontal cross section (see Fig. 5), a

horizontal part in the form of a flange 5 extending from the upper end of the lower part in the direction away from the open side of the U-shape of the lower part, an upper outer vertical part 7 extending upward from the outer edge of the flange, and integral load-transmitting portions in the form of triangular gussets 9 between the ends of the flange 5 and the sides. of the lower part 3.

The lower part 3, as herein illustrated, comprises a fiat plate portion 11 of rectangular outline with flat wing portions 13 at the sides bent away from the portion 11 on lines 15, and divergent in the direction away from portion 11. The flange 5 is bent to extend horizontally outward from the plate portion 11 on line 17, this line constituting the upper edge of portion 11 and one edge (the inner edge) of the flange. The upper part 7 of the bracket is in the form of a flat rectangular plate in a vertical plane parallel to and offset outward from the plane of portion 11. Part 7 is wider than portion 11. It is bent to extend upward from the flange 5 on line 19,

this line constituting the lower edge of the part 7 and the outer edge of the flange 5.

The gussets 9 are flat and have the outline of a triangle.- They result from bending the sheet metal blank on lines 21 which constitute the ends of the flange 5 and on angled lines 23 extending from points 25 on the edges of the Wings 13 to the intersections of lines 15, 17 and 21. The flange 5 accordingly has the outline of an isosceles trapezoid. The parallel sides of the trapezoid are constituted by the edges on lines 17 and 19, 17 being the short parallel side and 19 being the long parallel side of the trapezoid. The ends of the trapezoid are constituted by the edges on lines 21. These diverge in outward direction from the plane of portion 11. The sides of the integral triangular load-transmitting gussets 9 are constituted by the edges on lines 21 and 23 and the free gusset edges indicated at 27. The portions 7 and 11 and wings 13 are provided with holes 29 for receiving nails.

As shown in Fig. l, the bracket 1 is fastened to the pole P by driving nails N into the pole through the holes 29 in the lower part 3 of the bracket (including portion 11 and wings 13). Then the ends of the rafter supports R are set on the flange 5 between the plate 7 and the pole, and nails N are driven through the nail holes in plate 7 and through the rafter supports into the pole. When the load of the rafter supports comes on the bracket, with the consequent tendency for the flange 5 to bend downward, the "gussets 9 transmit forces to the wings 13 to cause them to tend to move inward and grip the pole. Since the nails which form the connection between the rafter supports and the pole pass through the plate 7, this connection is reinforced by the plate 7.

The invention is not limited to a bracket in which the lower part 3 has the flat plate portion 11 and the flat wings 13. The lower part 3 may be made of arcuate form, for example. It is also contemplated that the gussets 9 may be stilfened against buckling, particularly in the case of the larger sizes of brackets for supporting rafter supports of relatively long span, as :by forming a stiffening flange or head along the free edges 27 of the gussets.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As various changes could be made in the above con structions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

1. A bracket consisting of a sheet metal blank formed to provide a lower vertical part generally of U-shape in horizontal cross section, a horizontal flange extending outward from the upper end of the lower part in the direction away from the open side of the U-shape of the lower part, said flange having the outline of an isosceles trapezoid, the inner and outer edges of the flange constituting the parallel sides of the trapezoid, the inner edge being the short parallel side, an upper vertical part extending upward from the outer edge of the flange, and integral triangular load-transmitting gussets between the end edges of the flange and the sides of the lower part, said lower and upper parts having holes for receiving fasteners.

2. A bracket consisting of a sheet metal blank formed to provide a lower vertical part generally of U-shape in horizontal cross section, said lower part comprising a flat plate portion of rectangular outline and flat wing portions at the sides of the flat plate portion, a horizontal flange extending outward from the upper end of the flat plate portion of the lower part in the direction away from the open side of the U-shape of the lower part, said flange having the outline of an isosceles trapezoid, the inner and outer edges of the flange constituting the parallel sides of the trapezoid, the inner edge being the short parallel side, an upper vertical part extending upward from the outer edge of the flange, and integral triangular load transmitting gussets between the end edges of the flange and the wing portions of the lower part, said lower and upper pants having holes for receiving fasteners.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Sale Apr. 6, 1943 

